# Fantasy-land style place names in real life. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2014, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306 "2014-02-01T21:42:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/21 "2014-02-02T01:21:57Z")
[Lake Desolation](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=lake+desolation+ny&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS473US473&espv=210&es_sm=93&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&ei=7ZztUs2KA6ahsQS01YCgBQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ) in upstate New York. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/22 "2014-02-02T01:28:52Z")
Iceland ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/23 "2014-02-02T01:52:16Z")
Intercourse, PA > **[Intercourse, Pennsylvania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercourse,_Pennsylvania)** > > Intercourse is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Leacock Township, Lancaster County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, 10 miles (16 km) east of Lancaster on Pennsylvania Route 340. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,494, up from 1,274 at the previous census. > Intercourse is a popular site for tourists because of its location in Amish country and its sexually suggestive name. The movie Witness was filmed in Intercourse as well as other parts of the surround... Cheesequake, NJ > **[Cheesequake, New Jersey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesequake,_New_Jersey)** > > Cheesequake is an unincorporated community located within Old Bridge Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. Cheesequake is located along Route 34, south of Cheesequake State Park. > The community's name has been said to be derived from the Lenni Lenape word "Cheseh-oh-ke", meaning "upland" or from the word "chickhake", meaning "land that has been cleared." > > This Middlesex County, New Jersey state location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/24 "2014-02-02T02:00:54Z")
[Disappointment Valley](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Disappointment+Valley,+San+Miguel,+CO&hl=en&sll=38.997934,-105.550567&sspn=5.215615,9.810791&oq=disappointment+valley+&t=h&hnear=Disappointment+Valley&z=15&iwloc=A), San Miguel, CO. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/25 "2014-02-02T02:04:41Z")
[Cherepovets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherepovets), a Russian city, with a name possibly derived from “Place of the Skulls.” The [Superstition Mountains](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_Mountains) (as famed from older cartoons). [The Empty Quarter.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empty_Quarter) ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/26 "2014-02-02T02:21:19Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Intercourse, PA… Bonus points if you’ve had intercourse in Intercourse, PA. ---
**Author:** ![pabstist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e99b99/32.png) [@pabstist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pabstist)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/27 "2014-02-02T02:24:22Z")
Popple Dungeon Rd, in Chester VT. Just plain creepy! Google Popples if you don’t remember them. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/28 "2014-02-02T02:24:30Z")
[Dead Horse Point,](http://stateparks.utah.gov/park/dead-horse-point-state-park) Utah [Starvation Mountain,](http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=32625) California The [Cannibal Plateau,](http://wikimapia.org/9339114/Cannibal-Plateau) Colorado, site of the crimes of the Colorado Cannibal [Alferd Packer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alferd_Packer). Deadwood, South Dakota [Calvary,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvary) or Golgatha, “the place of the skull” [Great Slave Lake,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Slave_Lake) Canada [Truth or Consequences,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences,_New_Mexico) New Mexico ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/29 "2014-02-02T03:19:11Z")
Picketwire Canyon in Colorado. Originally, it was named “Purgatoire” (i.e., “purgatory”) but folk etymology changed the name. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/30 "2014-02-02T03:44:00Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Picketwire Canyon in Colorado. Originally, it was named “Purgatoire” (i.e., “purgatory”) but folk etymology changed the name. There’s a [Purgatory Chasm](http://www.examiner.com/article/purgatory-chasm-of-rhode-island-beach-and-ocean-views-from-a-high-ledge)in Rhode Island, and [another](http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/massparks/region-central/purgatory-chasm-state-reservation.html) in Massachusetts. A number of places have the word “Misery” in their name (see for example [“Mount Misery”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Misery)) but I think a lot of these derive from the archaic definition of misery, i.e., “mercy”. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/31 "2014-02-02T03:45:03Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Picketwire Canyon in Colorado. Originally, it was named “Purgatoire” (i.e., “purgatory”) but folk etymology changed the name. There’s still a [Purgatoire River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purgatoire_River) on maps, but locally it’s pronounced “picketwire.” There’s also a Purgatory Creek, but the town of [Purgatory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durango_Mountain_Resort) has changed its name to the Durango Mountain Resort. Panama has a [Rio Limbo,](http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g294480-i41826114-Panama_City_Panama_Province.html) which I guess is not quite as bad as Purgatory. [Desolation Peak,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desolation_Peak_(Washington)) Washington. The Rio da Dúvida (“River of Doubt”), Brazil, now called the [Roosevelt River.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_River) The[Impenetrable Forest,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bwindi_Impenetrable_Forest) Uganda. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/32 "2014-02-02T04:15:08Z")
Some obsolete examples: [Murderer’s Bay,](http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/1407/conflict-at-murderers-bay) New Zealand, now called Golden Bay. The [Ladrones (“Thieves”) Islands](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladrones_Islands), now the Marianas. (There are actually still some Islas Ladrones in Panama.) ---
**Author:** ![larryg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9d8465/32.png) [@larryg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/larryg)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/33 "2014-02-02T04:32:32Z")
In the early 1970’s, at the height of the free love, LSD, anything goes era I attended several very wild parties held outdoors with a couple of hundred people and encounters of every description. It wasn’t until many years later that I realized the humor of the street name where the parties were held in Chattanooga, Tn. which was Lower Cravens Place. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/34 "2014-02-02T04:58:07Z")
[The Ocean of Storms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanus_Procellarum), on the Moon. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/35 "2014-02-02T04:59:59Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Intercourse, PA > > [Intercourse, Pennsylvania - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercourse,_Pennsylvania) > > Cheesequake, NJ > > [Cheesequake, New Jersey - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesequake,_New_Jersey) > [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Bonus points if you’ve had intercourse in Intercourse, PA. Or thrown up from eating too much cheese in Cheesequake. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/36 "2014-02-02T05:05:22Z")
The [Slave Coast,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Coast) Africa (now obsolete). [Inaccessible Island.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inaccessible_Island) [Mount Terror,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Terror_(Antarctica)) Antarctica (named after a ship). [Mount Erebus,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Erebus) Antarctica, also named after a ship that took its name from a Greek god of darkness and region of Hades. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/37 "2014-02-02T05:43:44Z")
Desolation Wilderness isn’t desolate, by the way. All kinds of plants and water and wildlife. Some of the trails will make you feel desolate, however (curse you, Bayview Trailhead). Yes, there is a place called [Bumpass Hell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_areas_in_Lassen_Volcanic_National_Park). There are some _intentional_ fantasy named places, such as [this LOTR neighborhood](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rivendell+Lane,+Davis,+CA&hl=en&sll=38.502032,-117.02306&sspn=14.000738,28.54248&oq=rivendell&hnear=Rivendell+Ln,+Davis,+Yolo+County,+California+95616&t=m&z=17) in Davis. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/38 "2014-02-02T06:15:50Z")
[Devil’s Slide](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Slide_(California)) is a section of the California coast where Highway 1 was frequently closed (due to slides). I used to have nightmares about driving such a road at high speed. Checking Wikipedia, I see there are five other “Devil’s Slides” if you include Teufelsrutsch in Germany. (I also see that tunnels have been built for Highway 1 to bypass the Slide.) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/39 "2014-02-02T06:57:31Z")
[QUOTE=thelurkinghorror] There are some _intentional_ fantasy named places, such as [this LOTR neighborhood](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rivendell+Lane,+Davis,+CA&hl=en&sll=38.502032,-117.02306&sspn=14.000738,28.54248&oq=rivendell&hnear=Rivendell+Ln,+Davis,+Yolo+County,+California+95616&t=m&z=17) in Davis. [/QUOTE] It’s a shame Davis Bee Wrangling isn’t on Beorn Dr… ---
**Author:** ![FightMyIgnorance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71e660/32.png) [@FightMyIgnorance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FightMyIgnorance)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/40 "2014-02-02T07:28:17Z")
[Badwater Basin, California](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badwater_Basin) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306.md?page=3)